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Day: June 18, 2008

Under the 1930 pact, Iraq had to consult Britain on security issues and allow it the use of Iraqi airports, ports, railways and rivers. Two major military bases were leased to the British, who were empowered to station their forces throughout Iraq. British personnel were granted immunity from local prosecution.Almost 80 years later, the Bush administration seeks a startlingly similar arrangement. While not formally a treaty (having been carefully crafted to avoid the requirement of Senate ratification), the wide-ranging pact that the United States proposes nearly replicates the 1930 accord. According to press reports based on leaks from the Iraqi Parliament, the pact envisions giving the Americans rights to as many as 58 military bases and control of Iraqi airspace. It would grant immunity from Iraqi laws to American military personnel. And it would empower American officials to detain suspected terrorists without the approval of Iraqi authorities.

Seriously, I thought World War II heralded the end of colonialism. when the US invaded and occupied Iraq, I could not get most of my uncolonised friends to understand that the subjugation of Iraq by a bunch of white folk was never going to work out. We remember what it is to be colonised. While I was too young to watch the British rule India, most of us inherit those memories from our parents and history books. White men with guns and armoured trucks ordering people around, building giant fortresses with fancy restaurants while the people outside live in raw sewage, without electricity and in constant fear, good work colonial powers!

Now the US wants their puppet government to sign a treaty with them that will make their status as colonial overlords permanent masters, above the law and with almost unlimited power.

Iraq needs a referendum. If a majority of people need the US to leave, they should. Of course, as colonial overlords, they will ensure that such a referendum could never happen!

I am never surprised that the western media does not view the occupation of Iraq through this lens. After all, when were they colonised? The great US war of independence was fought by a bunch of rich white land and slave owners who wanted to not give their money to another bunch of rich land owners and slave runners.